Madonna Among Golden Globe Winners

Madonna Among Golden Globe WinnersGRAMMY winner Madonna was among the winners at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 15 in Los Angeles, earning the Best Original Song — Motion Picture honor, along with Julie Frost and Jimmy Harry, for "Masterpiece" from Madonna's self-directed W.E. French composer Ludovic Bource earned the Best Original Score — Motion Picture award for The Artist. (1/17)

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Elton John, Madonna, Trent Reznor Among Golden Globe Nominees

Elton John, Madonna, Trent Reznor Among Golden Globe NomineesGRAMMY-winning artists Mary J. Blige, Chris Cornell, Elton John, Madonna, Thomas Newman, Trent Reznor, Howard Shore, and John Williams are among the nominees for the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards, to be held Jan. 15 in Los Angeles. The nominees for Best Original Song — Motion Picture are John and Bernie Taupin for "Hello Hello" (Gnomeo & Juliet); Cornell for "The Keeper" (Machine Gun Preacher); Brian Byrne and GRAMMY-nominated actress Glenn Close for "Lay Your Head Down" (Albert Nobbs); Blige and Newman, along with Damon Thomas and Harvey Mason Jr. for "The Living Proof" (The Help); and Madonna, along with Julie Frost and Jimmy Harry, for "Masterpiece" (W.E.). Reznor, along with Atticus Ross, Shore and Williams, earned nominations for Best Original Score — Motion Picture for the soundtracks to the films The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Hugo and War Horse, respectively. (12/15)

Lady Gaga Tops Forbes' Top-Earning Women In Music ListLady Gaga topped Forbes magazine's Top-Earning Women in Music list with estimated earnings of $90 million. Placing second was Taylor Swift at $45 million, and rounding out the top five were Katy Perry ($44 million), Beyoncé ($35 million) and Rihanna ($29 million). The figures reflect earnings between May 2010 – May 2011 and were compiled using data from Pollstar and the RIAA, among others. (12/15)

Spotify Tops 10.2 Million UsersMusic streaming service Spotify added 2.5 million global monthly average users for the month ending Dec. 13, bringing its monthly user total to 10.2 million, up 32 percent from 7.7 million at the beginning of the period on Nov. 14, according to Billboard.biz. At this rate, Spotify could surpass 20 million monthly average users by April 2012. (12/15)

GRAMMY winner Madonna joined comedian Amy Schumer onstage for a power duo of hilarity on Sept. 26 at the Comedy Cellar in New York. The show also included comedians Aziz Ansari, Louis CK, Pete Holmes, and Jon Stewart.

This isn't the first time the dynamic duo supported each other. In 2015 Schumer, a two-time GRAMMY nominee, opened for Madge at Madison Square Garden, which the singer reciprocated in October 2016 to rally support for then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Pride Month: Madonna, Elton John Celebrate LGBTQ Advancements

From outspoken buzz band MUNA to pride pioneer Dolly Parton, check out how these seven artists are supporting the LGBTQ community

Renée Fabian

GRAMMYs

Jun 21, 2017 - 10:00 am

GRAMMY.com

This month we celebrate LGBTQ pride with rainbow flags and often chaps, motorcycles and a whole lot of partying. And rightfully so.

Pride happens in June every year to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots. On June 28, 1969, New York police raided a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, a common practice in the 1960s. But this time, the LGBTQ community fought back.

This incident marked a turning point in rights for LGBTQ people. These protections are still being fought for, but hard-won victories are coming more frequently, as evidenced by the fall of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy in 2011, marriage equality legislation in 2013 and current-day bathroom laws for transgender people.

Music has always been part of celebrating Pride in cities across America each year, and many artists have stepped up to support the LGBTQ community and their rights. To give you just a small sampling of the artists who have voiced their support, take a look at these seven artists' active support for LGBTQ people.

MUNA

This Southern California trio of queer women — comprising Katie Gavin, Naomi McPherson and Josette Maskin — has brought LGBTQ advocacy to much of their alt-pop music. Perhaps their most notable contribution has been their 2016 Pride anthem, "I Know A Place." The song advocates for safe spaces, particularly in the LGBTQ community, in this case depicting a dance club. The allusion to the Stonewall Inn became even more poignant following the devastating Pulse Nightclub shooting on June 12, 2016, in Orlando.

"['I Know A Place'] was also meant to serve as encouragement for our community to remain vulnerable and kind and hopeful in the face of violence," said lead singer Gavin. "We cannot build a better world without first imagining what that world might look like, and by creating that space inside ourselves first."

Elton John

At a time when almost no other public figure was out, GRAMMY winner Elton John came out as bisexual to Rolling Stone during a 1976 interview, and later as gay in 1988. Since then, John has been a pioneer for the LGBTQ community, including his extensive philanthropic work to fight AIDS. In 1993 he founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has since awarded millions in funding to organizations around the world to fight the deadly disease.

"This Pride month, I'm celebrating you," John wrote for Billboard. "You've showed the world that people of all creeds, colors and cultures can come together to enjoy the music of an openly gay artist like me. And more than that, you've showed the world that we are all worthy of love."

Dolly Parton

GRAMMY winner Dolly Parton has been a long-time supporter of the LGBTQ community, dating back to her 1991 tune, "Family," which advocates for accepting family even when "some are gay." In 2006 Parton again showed her support for the LGBTQ community when she wrote the theme song for the film Transamerica. She earned an Oscar nomination for "Travelin' Thru," the film's end credit song.

"I have a huge gay and lesbian following," Parton told People. "I'm proud of 'em, I love 'em and I think everybody should be themselves and be allowed to be themselves whoever they are, whatever they are."

Angel Haze

Detroit rapper Angel Haze has been an outspoken member of the LGBTQ community since her debut album, 2013's Dirty Gold. Most notably, Haze took Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' LGBTQ anthem, "Same Love," and freestyled her own lyrics over the top as part of her "30 Gold" series, where she released a freestyled song daily. In her version of the song, Haze came out, a stigmatized move for a rapper.

"I was so reluctant to do 'Same Love,' because I get so caught up on people thinking of me as a queer rapper, I don't discuss my sexuality in my music," said Haze. "But I've always said to myself that an artist is a person who has something to say and isn't just a part of the noise."

Miley Cyrus

What many people may have missed when GRAMMY nominee Miley Cyrus came in like a wrecking ball was her passionate stance on LGBTQ rights. While she ruffled some fans' feathers when she got an "all love is equal" tattoo in 2012, Cyrus didn't back down, saying, "I believe every American should be allowed the same rights and civil liberties."

After bringing Jesse Helt, a homeless friend, with her to the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards as her date and to accept her award, Cyrus founded the Happy Hippie Foundation, which advocates for homeless youth. The organization particularly calls out to LGBTQ youth, who make up 40 percent of the homeless population among young people. In June 2017, Cyrus released the track "Inspired" from her forthcoming album to celebrate Pride, and announced that she would make a donation in the name of the song to her foundation.

Lady Gaga

Well before her multiplatinum track "Born This Way" inspired her little monsters to be themselves, GRAMMY winner Lady Gaga backed LGBTQ rights. Founded in 2012, her Born This Way Foundation aims to continue the trend of acceptance and empowerment for people from "all walks of life." This has included the safe space Born Brave Bus at her concert tours, as well as her recent Channel Kindness project in cooperation with Starbucks.

But that's not all the Fame Monster has been up to. Gaga regularly donates her time to connect directly with members of the LGBTQ community, including a visit to LGBTQ youth at the Ali Forney Center in New York in 2016. Here she discussed living with mental illness, providing hope and inspiration for young people like those she spoke with.

Madonna

GRAMMY winner Madonna has long been a gay icon, and she's paid that honor back tenfold. From speaking up about AIDS in the 1980s and helping Ellen DeGeneres famously come out in the '90s to denouncing homophobia throughout her entire career, the LGBTQ community has long had a strong advocate in Madonna.

She capped this reputation when she appeared on the 56th GRAMMY Awards to sing a rendition of her "Open Your Heart" for 33 couples freshly married on the live telecast, officiated by Queen Latifah while Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert sang their LGBTQ anthem, "Same Love."

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